2024 Pickleball and Pinot

The fabulous ocean-side town of Santa Barbara is the backdrop for five nights of pickleball and pinot! Each day starts with pickleball training under the guidance of a local coach. Beginners, intermediates, and champions alike will enjoy warmups, drills, strategy, and games. Freshen up back at the Canary Santa Barbara, followed by lunch on your own.

Each afternoon we’ll visit a different tasting room or winery to learn about and taste the varietals (not just pinot), soil type, climate, and producers that contribute to California’s many vintages. Learn how climate change has impacted wine production and spurred winemaking innovation in recent years.

We’ll celebrate our week together with a welcome dinner, farewell dinner, and another one in between, all at local restaurants. In your free time, you can experience Santa Barbara’s beaches, historical monuments, quaint shops, and Michelin-starred restaurants. 

See more details below and use the Register Now button above to join us!

An alternative title for this trip could have been “Get out of the Kitchen!” If you’re already a pickleballer, you get the pun (the “kitchen” is the non-volley zone on a pickleball court). This trip brings together fun coaching in the well-loved sport of pickleball, inspired menus, and legendary wine––keeping you and your fellow travelers out of the kitchen. 

Pickleball is a fast-growing sport for people of all ages and abilities. It’s nearly equally popular among women (47%) and men (53%). There is less ground to cover than a tennis court, making it more approachable and more social. While pickleball is very accessible, it’s not a piece of cake! It’s a great form of aerobic exercise, improves agility, and there’s plenty of strategy to study. Play becomes more fun and fast-paced as skill advances. Santa Barbara offers a picturesque backdrop for daily drills and play, and puts travelers at the doorstep of a fantastic food and wine region.

This trip takes place entirely in Santa Barbara. See the most up to date itinerary here.

Jane Becker Nelson is a Northfield, MN native. After adventures in Seattle and New York, she boomeranged back to her hometown to serve as the Director and Curator of St. Olaf’s Flaten Art Museum. She oversees the museum’s collections and exhibitions and is a passionate advocate for object-based teaching and learning.

When she’s not in the gallery or visiting artists’ studios, you can find Jane playing pickleball, tennis, cross-country skiing, swimming, gardening, scheming about her family’s next trip, and devising clever ways to motivate her kids to hike with her. Being active and outside fuels her creativity. 

 Jane worked in restaurants throughout her twenties while building experience in the visual arts. Bringing people together around food became a love language. She reads cook books like novels, grows veggies with her family, and is a devoted student of wine. 

She holds a BA in studio art and art history from St. Olaf College and an MA in art history from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. 

Peter Nelson is an Associate Professor of New Media Art and Co-Chair of the Department of Art and Art History at St. Olaf College and an award-winning interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker. Drawing from the personal narratives of friends and family, his work critically examines the nuances of race, gender roles, relationships, aging, and loss. His latest stop-motion animated film, titled Whiteness at Work, premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2023.

Peter plays pickleball with a (rather competitive) group of friends multiple times each week. The group has been known to play outside during the winter on a freshly shoveled court. As of February 2023, Peter has competed in two tournaments and earned a silver medal in the Men’s Doubles 3.5 competition at The Minnesota Classic at the Premier Pickleball Club in Brooklyn Park, MN. While his hustle is exemplary, he could use some work on his backhand.

Like Jane, Peter enjoys learning about small-scale food and wine producers. He loves working in the garden they share, picking up additional vegetables at their CSA, and cooking a satisfying meal with freshly picked produce. He trusts Jane with the wine selection.

Jane and Peter are excited to gather with fellow pickleball, food, and wine enthusiasts for a chance to learn even more about — and take great pleasure in — these fun activities.

This tour is designed to be more active than the average study travel trip. The times of higher activity will be balanced by down times as well. 

To minimally partake in this tour, you should be capable of spending 2 to 2-½ hours actively participating in the sport of pickleball, walking to and from group activities, and of keeping pace with an active group of travelers on active days together.

You are responsible for reviewing these requirements and judging the appropriateness of these travel activities to your physical, mental and behavioral capabilities.

Inclusions and exclusions vary from tour to tour. Please read the following information carefully.

A California wine country hotel at spring break, court rental, and wine tastings are not bargain basement steals. The opportunity to combine pickleball and pinot with other adventurous, fun travelers? Priceless.

The tour price is $4,856 per person, based on double occupancy. For single occupancy, add $1,265. Only 2 single rooms are available as of publication. If both rooms are taken and you are a solo traveler wishing to register, we will attempt to add more rooms to our room block, but will need to confirm first.

Inclusions
Discussions, leadership, and logistical oversight by Jane Becker Nelson and Peter Nelson; pickleball court rental, paddles, and instruction; accommodations, breakfast daily and group meals as listed on the itinerary; four wine tastings; ground transportation during the tour (except airport transfers if that’s how you arrive at and depart from the tour); and gratuities to group guides, drivers, and meal servers.

Exclusions
Transportation to and from Santa Barbara, CA is not included. Participants are solely responsible for all expenses not specifically included in the tour fee. Examples of excluded expenses are: transportation to and from the tour, travel insurance of any kind, beverages at most group meals, gratuities to housekeeping staff, laundry, dry cleaning, phone charges, room service or other items of a personal nature, expenses incurred during free time or non-group activities, lunch and dinner, unless specifically included on tour itinerary, items not specifically listed above as included.

Extra note: As we mentioned above, “the prices associated with a stay in Wine Country can be jaw-dropping. Here, luxury abodes can set you back close to $1,000 per night. But more startling, even a standard motel room can go for upward of $250 per night over the weekend during high season. Why? Because there tends to be more people who want to visit than there are hotels to accommodate them. In other words, it’s a seller’s market. … During high season — March to November — … most hotels charge peak rates, sell out completely on weekends, and often have a 2-night minimum.” (from frommers.com) We definitely encountered this when looking for a group hotel; some were already sold out for our dates.

This schedule is based on payments St. Olaf College must make to tour vendors to guarantee group rates. We highly recommend that you purchase trip cancellation insurance at the time of registration to recover your payments should you need to withdraw from the tour.

Deposit due:                  $500 upon registration
Refund if you cancel:  $250 until October 15, 2023. If the deposit is made after October 15, 2023 there is no refund.

Interim Payment due:  $2,000 on October 16, 2023
Refund if you cancel:   $1,000 until January 14, 2024

Final payment due:      January 15, 2024
Refund if you cancel:  None, unless the tour is full and your place can be resold

Cancellations must be in writing.

Read the Release & Waiver and Terms & Conditions.

Take time to Prepare for your adventure by checking out a variety of resources, including frequently asked questions, general health information, safety overview, and more.

Hold the dates of March 23-28, 2024, but do not book non-refundable flights (if that’s how you decide to get to Santa Barbara) until we can announce the tour as a go. Meanwhile, see our Booking Your Flights page for notes and tips.